29"x29" MoreBeer BIAB Bag $5.50

I recently ordered some stuff from MoreBeer.com and found this grain bag that was $5.50 (edit 3/26 the price has gone up a little bit). At that price I figured what the heck and ordered it for my BIAB. It has been working really well for myself and for others in this thread.

Pros:

• Way better than a paint strainer bag - bigger, better stiching
• Strong: [update 3/26/13 Successfully user tested with 17.5 lbs of grain]
• Huge, this thing is enormous
• Has a drawstring to cinch everything up
• Didn't burn at all
• CHEAP! Actually used it just to bring me over the free shipping threshold

Cons:

• Square bottom so you need to make sure to get into the corners when stirring, possibility of dough balls

User tips and comments:

• Fits 10 gal pots and some users report it works on 15 gal pots too (MoreBeer kettle and Blichmann kettle included)
• Use a bungee cord around the kettle instead of binder clips as the clips could tear the bag eventually
• Don't stretch it over your kettle handles and attempt a mash out, heat could easily cinge the bag. Instead tie it around the rim of the kettle and secure with a bungee cord
• "17.5lbs of dry grain. Bag held up like a champ" (jump to post)

Here is the link:

• http://morebeer.com/view_product/20955/102157/Mesh_Bag_-_29in_x_29in_with_Drawstring

Pics:

Wow, nice find. I've been meaning to get a new bag!

daksin said:

Wow, nice find. I've been meaning to get a new bag!

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Thanks! Yeah not sure the bag is worth the order and shipping alone but with other items its totally worth it. Sustained several dunks and squeezes on its first batch. Cleaned up easy just turned it inside out and rinsed. Hung dry and it's ready to go.

Great, ordered two bags and ended up checking out with $65 worth of stuff. Damn you, free shipping offers....

Looks pretty neat. May have to place an order from them instead of AHS just so I can get this bag. Too bad i don't need anything currently, though this bag seems to be a great alternative to the custom bags people are buying for much much more.

Does this bag seem to be reuseable indefinitely like the voile (sp?) bags seem to be? I have been using 5 gallon paint strainer bags and get about 3 or 4 batches out of them before I need to get a new one.

D_Nyholm said:

Looks pretty neat. May have to place an order from them instead of AHS just so I can get this bag. Too bad i don't need anything currently, though this bag seems to be a great alternative to the custom bags people are buying for much much more.

Does this bag seem to be reuseable indefinitely like the voile (sp?) bags seem to be? I have been using 5 gallon paint strainer bags and get about 3 or 4 batches out of them before I need to get a new one.

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Shows no sign of wear after one batch. Except its a little brown from mashing in it. I would hope I'd get at least 4 more batches out of this, there's nothing indicating that I won't be able to. [UPDATE 3/6/13 6 batches, still no sign of it weakening or tearing]

I even mashed out at 160 F with zero issues.

Let me take some photos of the weave and stitching when I get home. Update soon...

OK back with pics.

First one shows the drawstring area and top construction. You can see its discolored a bit from the first use

This one shows the stitching and reinforcement around the sides. It's not as beefy as some bags, but it'll do. Also you can see the bag weave. It's a little thicker than a paint strainer bag, meaning it will filter out more of the smaller stuff

Another shot of the drawstring enclosure and surrounding stitching, it's basically folded over and stitched together

The bag in its entirety. Just noticed one corner of the bottom is rounded, while the other is square. Wonder why that is. Black square is a iPhone so you can see the size in perspective. Points if you can name the character on my pajamas

This is the stitching along the bottom. Similar to the stitching along the sides

This is a weave comparison to a paint strainer bag. Paint strainer bag (bottom) seems thinner and doesn't look like it would filter out as much as the MB bag. The weaves are distinctly different and the MB bag feels thicker. Same or similar material though

And finally here's a pic of it in use. I have a 10 gal megapot which is very wide and I had no trouble fitting this around the brim, there was a ton of excess on the edges (width) and from the top to the bottom of the kettle (height).

And 3 different sizes of binder clips will get you crazy high efficiency. Speaking of which I netted a 75% efficiency with this bag according to ibrewmaster

Hey there, I have a 15 gallon megapot with a 19 inch diameter. I did the circumference of a circle formula along with the outside edge of the bag and it appears that this bag would work for me. My question for you is how wide your 10 gal pot is just for comparison to mine. I just want to make sure I did my math right with a gut check comparison to your pot. I hope that all made sense.

Vellum said:

Hey there, I have a 15 gallon megapot with a 19 inch diameter. I did the circumference of a circle formula along with the outside edge of the bag and it appears that this bag would work for me. My question for you is how wide your 10 gal pot is just for comparison to mine. I just want to make sure I did my math right with a gut check comparison to your pot. I hope that all made sense.

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The diameter of my 10 gal megapot is about 16 3/4" and 21" from handle to handle. I was easily able to drape the bag over the edge of the handles and down the sides so you should have no problem wrapping the bag around your kettle as there was plenty of space as shown in the mash pic above.

Perfect, thanks so much for checking. I just upgraded my pot and now my bag doesn't fit it. When you listed the dimensions for this bag it sounded too good to be true. It'll be in my next order. Thanks again for all the good info.

No prob! Hope this gets you going

Update: third batch with this bag, no signs of wear yet

Thanks for posting this. I found this thread from your review on MoreBeer. What did you use at the bottom of your pot to prevent scorching? Or did you simply suspend the bag with the binder clips to keep the bottom of the bag from touching the bottom of your pot? If that is even possible . Thanks again!

mervmurry said:

Thanks for posting this. I found this thread from your review on MoreBeer. What did you use at the bottom of your pot to prevent scorching? Or did you simply suspend the bag with the binder clips to keep the bottom of the bag from touching the bottom of your pot? If that is even possible . Thanks again!

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Cool. I've tried a couple of different things.

These pics in this thread are of first use when I used the binder clips to keep the bag from direct contact with the bottom of the pot and to keep the bag from falling into the kettle (I find the drawstring alone is not enough for me especially if you like to stir during the mash like I do).

My second batch I used a bungee cord to do the same thing. I got tired of finaggling around with the clips with the lid. Bungee cord is the way to go for sure. Again to keep the bag from falling all the way into the kettle and to keep the bottom of the bag from sitting directly on the pot.

My third batch this weekend I wanted to test if it would be OK to have my bag touching the kettle, so I used the bungee cord JUST to keep the bag from falling all the way into the kettle. The bag had direct contact with the bottom of the pot to raise my strike water temp and during the mash and mash out. I thought I'd at least get some yellowing or browning of the bag but after washing it and drying it out it was as white as everywhere else. No burning.

I have a clad bottom stainless pot (MegaPot) that has sandwiched aluminum on the bottom if that helps.

Pic from this weekend/bungee cord mash:

Great find, thanks for posting this! The paint strainer bags are a real stretch to get on my 10g pot, and definitely don't fill out the sides. Do you think doubling up would provide better filtering? Are you ending up with much extra trub from this?

Pants look like Cartman or Spongebob.

Cant recommend these bags highly enough. excellent quality, custom buit for your vessel and mines still like new after about 12 uses. Cant see it ever wearing out!
http://custombiab.blogspot.com/

I kinda stopped worrying about the filtering. To me, I have an acceptable amount of trub and usually just dump the whole thing into the fermenter anyway. I cold crash and use whirfloc/Irish Moss so I'm getting decent ending clarity. I'll see what I can do about posting a beer soon (I don't drink on weekdays so maybe Saturday).

And pants... close!

I finally ordered my bag. Can't wait for it to arrive. Any ideas on shipping times to Virginia?

As mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, a few cheap bags turned into a major order with MoreBeer to 'save' with free shipping. I should have known, that $70 was just the tip of the iceberg.

A bag that I had no use for at the time of ordering ("But it was a great deal Honey") has turned into major research into BIAB. Which turned into the purchase of a new 15 gallon kettle. But on the positive side, the bag fits it like a glove. An extremely expensive glove....

To my new friend 241, I quote an old Steppenwolf song:
"God damn, god damn the pusher man...."

Hahaha oh man, that made my night. I'm the same way. A quick trip to the LHBS store the other day for some yeast turned into:
- Oxygenation kit
- Oxygen tank
- 2 L flask
- Brew belt (heater)
- Some tubing
- Jamil's recipe book

After getting on the freeway I realized... FORGOT THE YEAST

Hope the bag works out. I'm happy with it.

Also, not sure on shipping. I guess 5-7 days? All my orders from them seem to go out on the 2nd day. So if you did ground, from CA that's 4-5 days from there.

Cheers

Just thought I would post for those considering this bag, I bought a couple hoping to use it on my 26 gallon heavy Duty Morebeer kettle for a 10 gallon batch. It fits perfectly in my 15 gallon morebeer kettle, but no way will it fit around the lip of my 26 gallon pot. Other than that, I haven't used it yet.

rshosted said:

Just thought I would post for those considering this bag, I bought a couple hoping to use it on my 26 gallon heavy Duty Morebeer kettle for a 10 gallon batch. It fits perfectly in my 15 gallon morebeer kettle, but no way will it fit around the lip of my 26 gallon pot. Other than that, I haven't used it yet.

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Great to know it fits a 15 gal but not a 26. Thanks for posting up

Well mine arrived on Friday. I'm very impressed with the shipping time. I ordered Wednesday, it shipped Thursday, and I had it in my hands Friday. Not bad considering I'm in Virginia and it came from California. Good work usps.

Anyways, this bag fits my polarware 15 gal kettle perfectly. It definetly won't fit a wider kettle as the bag is maxed width wise. I'll be brewing tomorrow with it and will report back with my thoughts.

I'm not an expert but I've been brewing BIAB for three years now (smaller kettle, 8.5 gal, and a smaller bag to fit) and know what I expect out of a BIAB brew day (at least from my system). Here is hoping for a glowing review tomorrow *fingers crossed*

Well, I was sitting at home today with a huge piece of voile, an old sewing machine with a missing bobber and no instruction manual. and I said to myself "Self, are you going to really spend your MLK day trying to work through this Murphy's Law domino effect?" I still have the $5 receipt for the voile from Target.
So I threw the voile back in the car to return tomorrow, then I went to morebeer.com and bought 2 bags with shipping for 17 bucks. Now I can just drink beer the rest of the day.

Has anyone actually had their bag melt at the bottom of their pot? A three ply SS pot?

241 said:

Points if you can name the character on my pajamas

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Stewie from Family Guy?

KurtB said:

Stewie from Family Guy?

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Ding ding! Repped

Cider123 said:

So I threw the voile back in the car to return tomorrow, then I went to morebeer.com and bought 2 bags with shipping for 17 bucks. Now I can just drink beer the rest of the day.

Has anyone actually had their bag melt at the bottom of their pot? A three ply SS pot?

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And you just scored major man points for not sitting in front of the sewing machine all day :rockin:

Last brew day my bag was in contact with the bottom of the kettle for strike water temp raise (propane burner on), mash, and mash out (burner on again) with no scorching or even discoloring. It was fine.

Forgot I was supposed to post a finished beer pic in response to the question on trub/ending clarity. Here's the beer that was in progress from my first pics

Vellum said:

Well mine arrived on Friday. I'm very impressed with the shipping time. I ordered Wednesday, it shipped Thursday, and I had it in my hands Friday. Not bad considering I'm in Virginia and it came from California. Good work usps.

Anyways, this bag fits my polarware 15 gal kettle perfectly. It definetly won't fit a wider kettle as the bag is maxed width wise. I'll be brewing tomorrow with it and will report back with my thoughts.

I'm not an expert but I've been brewing BIAB for three years now (smaller kettle, 8.5 gal, and a smaller bag to fit) and know what I expect out of a BIAB brew day (at least from my system). Here is hoping for a glowing review tomorrow *fingers crossed*

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How'd brew day go?

cgeorg said:

How'd brew day go?

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Brew day went very well, thank you for asking. My mexican lager is bubbling away in the fermentation chamber.

This bag is excellent. I like the finer weave that it has versus my last one (Austin Homebrew's jumbo course nylon). The addition of the drawstring is nice although kind of pointless as it doesn't not provide a very secure anchor to the top of the pot. Really this bag is a the perfect fit for my new pot and I could not be happier with it. My only possible concern is the seams. They appear strong but my grain bill was only 8.5 lbs dry. I might reinforce them, or just test them out on a bigger beer, I have a barley wine coming up that is 18 lbs of grain.

Anybody test this bag out with a large (greater than 15 lbs) grain bill?

Vellum said:

Brew day went very well, thank you for asking. My mexican lager is bubbling away in the fermentation chamber.

This bag is excellent. I like the finer weave that it has versus my last one (Austin Homebrew's jumbo course nylon). The addition of the drawstring is nice although kind of pointless as it doesn't not provide a very secure anchor to the top of the pot. Really this bag is a the perfect fit for my new pot and I could not be happier with it. My only possible concern is the seams. They appear strong but my grain bill was only 8.5 lbs dry. I might reinforce them, or just test them out on a bigger beer, I have a barley wine coming up that is 18 lbs of grain.

Anybody test this bag out with a large (greater than 15 lbs) grain bill?

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Maybe just double bag it to be safe?

Subscribed

My last batch was 14 lbs.


I didn't even think about the weight. I held it while it dripped out for about 5 mins over a bucket. I think 15 or so would be OK

Sweet I won't even worry about it then. Really a great bag for the price. I've been using the Austin homebrew one for three years without problem and I expect to use this one the same. Thank you for posting this otherwise I would have spent a lot more on a custom one.